Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
are trying to establish an advantageous position 'so that when nanotech
applications begin to have a signifi cant impact in the world economy, coun-
tries are able to exploit these new opportunities to the full'. Europe has
assigned 4.865 billion euros to 'Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials
and New Production Technologies' as part of the 7th Framework Pro-
gramme for the 2007-2013 period. In the United States, a dedicated nano-
technology act was signed into law, which set aside 3.679 billion dollars of
funding for the 2005-2008 period (Salerno et al. , 2008). China has identifi ed
nanotechnology as a priority area in its national agenda of science and
technology development, and has increased R&D investment in the fi eld.
China has consequently emerged as one of the key global players in nano-
technology, producing the second largest number of nanotechnology papers
after the United States (Wang and Guan, 2010, 2012).
Of course, nanotechnology is not entirely risk-free, with issues already
raised with regard to the potential toxicity of nanoparticles and a new
problem of the disposal of nanowastes (Bystrzejewska-Piotrowska et al. ,
2009; Tyshenko, 2010). Despite these risks, however, Arnall and Parr (2005)
quote Mihail Roco, the senior advisor for nanotechnology to the NSF, who
stated that 'early payoffs will come in electronics and IT, and medicine and
health'. Malanowski and Zweck (2007) also report that although almost all
fi elds of industry are expected to be affected by nanotechnology by 2015,
the areas most affected will be 'chemistry, life sciences and electronics'.
1.2
The need for nanotechnology in the
construction sector
Very few nanotech applications are currently used in the construction
sector, which in fact seems to have been somewhat neglected by nanotech
research to date. A search for the terms 'nanotechnology' and 'eco-effi cient
construction' in journals listed in Scopus revealed only fi ve papers, all
related to cement and concrete. Of course, many more papers examining
the role of nanotechnology in cement and concrete have been published;
however, the number is very low compared to other major areas of current
research. Moreover, much more work on standardization is required to
ensure that high quality investigations into the use nanotechnology in
cement and concrete applications can reach the global market (Sanjuan
et al. , 2011).
It is understandable that nanotech research in today's economically
driven society has so far been focused mainly on high profi t areas such as
those mentioned above. It is rather strange, however, that the same society
so easily forgets the economics of environmental problems such as the
probable meltdown of the world economy associated with global warming
(Stern, 2006). Nanotechnology priorities should therefore be driven by
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